Sanjar Rohām, an Iranian-American, was an in-demand successful business consultant in Los Angeles before the 2008 crash of the U.S. economy compelled him to rethink his career choices after discovering an advertisement for a translator fluent in Pashto and willing to serve as an interpreter with the U.S. Marines. By October 2010, he was on the frontlines of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Fighting suspicions from Marines because of his Persian ethnicity, as well as from Afghan interpreters, Rohām attempts to prove himself by volunteering for every mission the command will allow, experiencing mortar attacks, IED detonations, losses of friends, and the additional dangers of being a foreigner in a land that promises harm to outsiders.
Land of Tears: A Journey of Language, Loyalty, & War from an Iranian-American Translator Serving with U.S. Marines in Afghanistan
Sanjar Rohām, an Iranian-American, was an in-demand successful business consultant in Los Angeles before the 2008 crash of the U.S. economy compelled him to rethink his career choices after discovering an advertisement for a translator fluent in Pashto and willing to serve as an interpreter with the U.S. Marines. By October 2010, he was on the frontlines of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Fighting suspicions from Marines because of his Persian ethnicity, as well as from Afghan interpreters, Rohām attempts to prove himself by volunteering for every mission the command will allow, experiencing mortar attacks, IED detonations, losses of friends, and the additional dangers of being a foreigner in a land that promises harm to outsiders.